 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Sinusitis / September 2004My Sinus Surgery--Progress Report
Well, I had my revision sinus surgery yesterday, 22 September. The closest thing to a "smoking gun" yet was a pus-filled mucocele in the one ethmoid on my left side that had not been operated on in my prior surgery. My surgeon removed it and cleaned away all the swollen tissue around it. That ethmoid is separated from my brain by only a 1 mm wide layer of bone, so I'm glad that it's gone. I also had a big fluid-filled cyst removed from my left maxillary and a widening of that maxillary ostium (duct). Once again, I turned out to be right, and the doctors turned out to be wrong. I had predicted in advance that the most interesting problem would turn out to be in that ethmoid, not the big maxillary cyst that the surgeon said was a likely cause of infection. I had a couple of interesting after-effects: an allergic reaction to the morphine painkilller, and inability to urinate caused by the anesthesia numbing my bladder (which may be worse in my case because of my enlarged prostate). Otherwise, so far, so good. Now we'll see how healing progresses.  SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. Steve...glad everything is going okay. Did you get the lab back yet on your mucocele? They can be quite the nasty buggers as they wear away bone and can come back with a vengence so keep that is check. Sorry about the painkiller reaction...did they find something else that works instead? Trudy. > Steve...glad everything is going okay. Did you get the lab back yet on your > mucocele? They can be quite the nasty buggers as they wear away bone and > can come back with a vengence so keep that is check. And my mucocele was separated from my brain by only 1 mm of bone. The good news is that it may have been a major contributor to my symptoms, so maybe now that it's gone my symptoms will improve. The lab work hasn't been completed yet on anything. I will be seeing my ENT for a followup next week and hopefully the lab results will be done by then. > Sorry about the > painkiller reaction...did they find something else that works instead? Fortunately, the pain subsided so quickly that after just 5-6 hours, I didn't need any painkillers at all. I haven't even needed to take Tylenol. SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. Were you awake during surgery ? Were you able to drive yourself home? Just wondering in case I ever need endoscopic surgery. Thanks, Tony > Were you awake during surgery ? No, both my surgeries were done under general anesthesia. > Were you able to drive yourself home? No way! You're much too groggy and dizzy from the anesthesia to be allowed to drive yourself! Hospital policy is that you must have a friend or relative take you home, and it is recommended that the friend or neighbor stay with you overnight to be sure you don't have any problems the first night. They won't even let you take a taxi home the first night. If that's not possible (and this time for me, it wasn't), they let me stay overnight at the hospital in case there were any problems. And in both my surgeries, there were problems. In my first surgery, I had an unexpectedly large amount of post-op bleeding. In this latest revision surgery I just had, I had some unfortunate reactions to the medications--including an inability to urinate. So I stayed overnight, and then they let me take a taxi home the next morning. As it is, I wish there were someone living with me, just to keep changing these godawful "moustache bandages." You wear a "moustache bandage" of gauze stuck under your nose to catch the bloody drainage that keeps oozing out of your nose. It's not easy to change the bandage yourself, believe me. But I live alone, so I'll just have to fend for myself. You also need to keep your head elevated at night, so the bloody crap doesn't ooze down the back of your throat and get into your airway to make you cough. I own a recliner and I'm going to try sleeping on that tonite instead of my usual bed. SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. Steve, best of luck and success for the outcome of your surgery. Hopefully this will be the end to your sinus misery. You must have had much misery with those problems in your ethmoid and maxillary. Do you know why the pus-filled mucocele didn't show up on xrays or why your doctors were unable to diagnose an ethmoid obstruction? CanDo...with my first CT Scan that showed the mucocele under my left eye...poking up through the orbit floor...they missed seeing one on the right in the lower maxillary. I wonder why they are so hard to spot...I can see them clearly in the film when I hold it up to the light. Anyway...now they do CT with contrast and that shows every little problem quite well. Mine are filled with epithelial cells so they are careful to keep them under control. Hope Steve's don't come back at all and he recovers quickly. Trudy. > CanDo...with my first CT Scan that showed the mucocele under my left > eye...poking up through the orbit floor...they missed seeing one on the > right in the lower maxillary. I wonder why they are so hard to spot...I > can see them clearly in the film when I hold it up to the light. In my case, much of the entire ethmoid sinus was filled with swollen tissue anyway--the mucocele was sort of buried inside there--and maybe that made it harder to spot? I should have mentioned that: my ENT not only removed the mucocele but he had to scrape away all that swollen tissue around it. SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. Steve...you are lucky it could be removed all the way. Mine can't and therein lies the problem. It keeps filling up and encroaches into my orbit within weeks of surgery. They are thinking of putting a drainage tube into the mucocele but that has it's own problems with infections. Sigh. One day they will find out how to fix me. Soon I hope. Trudy. > Steve...you are lucky it could be removed all the way. Mine can't and > therein lies the problem. Why can't yours be removed? Has it invaded the bone? > It keeps filling up and encroaches into my orbit > within weeks of surgery. They are thinking of putting a drainage tube into > the mucocele but that has it's own problems with infections. Sigh. One day > they will find out how to fix me. Soon I hope. Trudy. I've seen a zillion ENTs and the one who did my surgery is the best I've seen--better than the Cleveland Clinic. If you're ever in Massachusetts, please stop by and see him. SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. Thank you. Who is your ENT? One of my first surgeries was done at the New England Medical Center and for the life of me I can't remember the ENT's name. He was wonderful and caring...very good. I have been literally from Coast to Coast and been treated everywhere. (Military) The reason I was at Cleveland Clinic was Dr. Don Lanza was recommended as the second best surgeon in the country...Dr. David Kennedy being the first...but as we know that is a matter of opinion depending on who you ask! Lanza now runs the Sinus and Nasal Institute in Florida so I was switched to Ann Arbor with Dr. Jeffery Terrel who seems quite competent so far. Yes, the mucocele has gotten into the bone...specifically creating a huge hole in my orbit floor. My eye is stable and sight not affected yet so they are waiting to create a new eye socket for me as it is quite dangerous. In the meantime they remove what they can of the mucocele along with taking the chronic disease out of the other sinuses. Lanza said he had never seen such severe disease which was pretty depressing. I am being treated now with high doses of prednisone, sprays, inhalers, antibiotic nasal wash, painkillers, etc. and have some relief though the meds are making me "crazy". I fear that 23 years off and on this stuff has damaged my immune system totally and now have to deal with chronic pain in my joints, tendons, muscles until they figure out what to do. I am babbling. Sorry. Make a good day! Trudy...Me You've Seen, Don't Be A Putz, Go See The World. > Thank you. Who is your ENT? One of my first surgeries was done at the New > England Medical Center and for the life of me I can't remember the ENT's [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > surgeon in the country...Dr. David Kennedy being the first...but as we > know that is a matter of opinion depending on who you ask! I saw Dr. Lanza. He swore that there was nothing in my ethmoid sinus that needed surgical repair, and sent me on a wild goose chase to find evidence of recirculation phenomena. He was wrong. The surgeon who did my surgery was Dr. Eric Stein. He's got a practice in Chelmsford MA. > Lanza now runs > the Sinus and Nasal Institute in Florida so I was switched to Ann Arbor [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > chronic disease out of the other sinuses. Lanza said he had never seen > such severe disease which was pretty depressing. Any idea how this happened? I assume you had been treated for sinusitis all these years. How do the doctors explain it progressing to this stage despite treatment? SignatureSteven D. Litvintchouk Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. >> Thank you. Who is your ENT? One of my first surgeries was done at the New >> England Medical Center and for the life of me I can't remember the ENT's [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >The surgeon who did my surgery was Dr. Eric Stein. He's got a practice >in Chelmsford MA. I hope this really reinforces to people that they need to get multiple opinions, especially if the case is difficult, and not choose hastily among them... "Any idea how this happened? I assume you had been treated for sinusitis all these years. How do the doctors explain it progressing to this stage despite treatment?" That is a good question and one I have never had totally answered by the experts. They tell me it is from having hypoplastic sinus with no landmarks resulting from and accident I was in when I was 13 that crushed the left side of my face and damaged the right. I was put back together back on the outside but the internal damage was another story. I ended up with sinusitis/samters triad/asthma when I was 23 and have been treated since. I had another sinus infection a few years back and went to my family physician. She was out so they gave me the Nurse Practioner. She said I was fine even though I had a fever, ached, epithelial cells in my urine and told her something was wrong. She said I had the flu, go home and rest. The next day my face started hurting pretty badly and she put me on a Z-Pack which didn't help. The next day my face was red, hot, swollen. She said give it time. My doctor was back the next day and when I called she said get in here. I went and she took one look at me and sent me to the opthomologist who sent me directly to the hospital. I had periorbital cellulitis that was 1/2 inch from my brain stem and they put me on IV Tequin. They did a CT scan and came back in the room, my ENT, Optho, Infectious Disease...all said you need to go to Ann Arbor right now. The mucocele had broken the orbit floor and came up through it...which hurt like hell. Dr. Harris performed the surgery to remove the mucocele along with polyp disease in all sinuses and I did pretty well until it came back about six months later. That started a cycle of surgeries that is ongoing. They can't get all the cells of the mucocele as it grew into the bone and keeps coming back. They won't repair the orbit floor until we run into trouble as my eye is stable and my sight not affected. I have to be very careful about infection as it likes to travel down my optic nerve, so I try to take care of myself and stay relatively healthy, which lately is hard as something has happended to my immune system from all of this...but that is another story. Trudy...What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about? <snip> >They won't repair the orbit floor until we run into >trouble as my eye is stable and my sight not affected. I have to be very [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Trudy...What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about? i'm sure you well know that steroids (prednisone) can suppress your immune system - maybe you've been using a lot of these? also, no doubt just the stress and worry caused by the illness itself further supresses your immune system - it's a vicious circle, no? iJah...I have been on/off prednisone, prednisolone, medrol for 23 years now. That is what most likely caused the damage to my immune system along with the multiple surgeries and stress. The cycle is vicious as you say but to be alive and breath is better than the alternative...at times. Trudy. >I've seen a zillion ENTs and the one who did my surgery is the best I've >seen--better than the Cleveland Clinic. > >If you're ever in Massachusetts, please stop by and see him. >Steven D. Litvintchouk >Email: sdlitvin@earthlinkNOSPAM.net > >Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me. I didn't catch the doctor's name-what is the doctor's name? Thanks |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.